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My dear People of God in the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan:
Today, we stand at the threshold of 2026. As the world celebrates a new calendar year, we as a local Church stand at a significant crossroads. We are now exactly two years away from the great centenary of the Diocese of Lingayen in 2028. This milestone is not merely a look backward at our history, but a clarion call to look forward. To prepare our hearts for this hundred-year jubilee, our theme for this year is pasimbalo—a Pangasinan word for renewal that literally means making things new again in Christ.
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, is the perfect lens through which to view this renewal. In the Gospel, we see Mary pondering all things in her heart. She does not simply let life happen to her; she allows the grace of God to renew her understanding and her purpose. If we are to undergo a true pasimbalo in our archdiocese, we must use five specific tools for renewal.
Our primary tool is prayer. Real change starts on our knees. To pray is to allow God’s breath to enter the stagnant areas of our lives. As we look toward our centenary, we must ask: Is our prayer life a routine, or is it a relationship? True pasimbalo happens when we move from talking about God to talking with God. Mary treasured all these in her heart.
The second tool is our courageous protest against sin. We often think of protest as something done in the streets, but the most radical protest happens in the soul. To protest against sin is to refuse to be comfortable with “the way things have always been” if those things are contrary to God’s law. Mary stood at the foot of the cross.
We must specifically protest against the culture of corruption that “poisons a country’s soul”. Corruption is not just a political issue; it is a “sin against God and the poor”. Let us resolve this year to “make corruption shameful again” by refusing to participate in bribery or vote-selling.
If pasimbalo is to last, we must pressure ourselves for sustained conversion. Renewal is rarely a lightning bolt; it is a steady drip of water that eventually carves through stone. We must apply a “holy pressure” upon ourselves to ensure our conversion is not a New Year’s resolution that fades by February. Mary stayed with the apostles in prayer.
We must pressure ourselves to stand against the culture of killing. We cannot celebrate the “Mother of Life” while remaining silent about summary executions or the disregard for human dignity. Sustained conversion means choosing to protect life from conception to natural death, every single day of 2026.
Pasimbalo demands that we prune all that is inconsistent with the Gospel. In any garden, growth requires cutting back. To experience pasimbalo, we must look at our habits and ask: “What is taking up space but bearing no fruit?”
We must prune the culture of vulgarity and lies that has increasingly stained our public and online discourse. Vulgarity is not a sign of “authenticity”; it is an
offense against the dignity of the person. This year, let us prune our tongues of “bashes,” online bullying, and obscenity, replacing them with words that build up rather than tear down.
Pasimbalo calls us to plant seeds of hope through vigilance. Renewal calls us to be “watchmen of the morning.” Vigilance means staying awake to the needs of the “defenseless and silent poor” who are often the primary victims of both corruption and violence. We plant hope when we demand accountability from those in power and refuse to be swayed by “false prophets” who exploit public anger for political gain.
Mary is our ultimate model for this journey. She was the first to experience the “renewal” of humanity through the Incarnation. She did not fear the “pruning” of her own plans, and she remained “vigilant” at the foot of the Cross.
As we begin 2026, let us entrust this Year of Pasimbalo to her maternal care. Let us use these two years leading to our centenary to transform the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan into a vibrant, living witness of the Gospel—a church that rejects the “reign of murder and vulgarity” and embraces the reign of Christ.
May the spirit of pasimbalo burn brightly in our hearts! Happy New Year!
